I'm balding at 17.5 and have some questions about finasteride.

[Pray The Bald Away]

I'm new here and I had a couple questions before I begin taking Costco generic finasteride.

First off, I'm scared as f*** of hyperandrogenism. I read through some posts and it seems as though finasteride can trigger this in rare cases. The primary case that I'm thinking of is Dench57. I feel for you man. I suppose my main question is if there is any way to minimize the risk of this phenomenon. Perhaps I can start with a really low dose and then build up from there. If there is no way to minimize this happening, does anyone know how common it is and whether it can go away after quitting the medication. I know Dench57 wasn't able to solve the problem but is it normally solved by quitting?

Secondly, I have practically no beard. I've read that this drug can potentially stunt the development of a beard. Does anyone know whether this is true? I know a lot of people will tell me to wait until I'm 18 but I literally can't. This s**t is DEFCON 1! Plus I'm 5'11 with a 5.5 inch peen so I don't mind if I stop growing there. How big of a deal can 6 months be? Besides, my hair specialist filled a prescription for me so he didn't seem to see a problem. Admittedly he didn't know much of what he was talking about in the first place. It was more like I was educating him on hair loss and finasteride. He essentially said that finasteride is just an oral version minoxidil, which is a load of crap. minoxidil doesn't stop progression of follicle damage. But I digress, I just don't want to be norwood 3 before I turn 20 and I see finasteride as my only legitimate option. Thanks for reading and any input would mean the world to me!

 

[Pavi]

Hey man! I was a Norwood 2.5 with some crown thinning at 19. I'm 20 now and I have been using only minoxidil for 4 months and I'm probably a thinner Norwood 2 with a completely filled in crown. I know they say propecia/finasteride is the first line of attack with hair loss, but with all the side effect possibilities I think you should try minoxidil first. It really can help you and I have had absolutely no side effects from it. I'm 20 and I don't want to mess up my hormones... But if I begin to lose ground I may have to consider it. Overall, you may want to try minoxidil before wrecking havoc on your most potent male androgen

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

I understand where you are coming from but all the minoxidil is doing is hiding the problem of miniaturization. If you stop taking it you may already be f**ked. It seems as though it is essentially just gluing the follicles in place until you stop taking it.

 

[Baldingat188]

Hey man, similar situation I just turned 18 and have been using minoxidil but I am thinking of starting finasteride soon

finasteride is pretty much the only hope for my hair loss and if I notice bad sides I will just stop taking it

That's really all you can do

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

Agreed 100%. I'm just scared out of my mind about hyperandrogenism. That stuff is nightmare material. I wish dench would make an appearance to share his thoughts.

 

[Pavi]

I understand where you are coming from but all the minoxidil is doing is hiding the problem of miniaturization. If you stop taking it you may already be f**ked. It seems as though it is essentially just gluing the follicles in place until you stop taking it.

I don't get what you're talking about... Minoxidil does much more than "gluing the follicles in place" which even if it only did that would be a huge win. Maintaining hair = win. Minoxidil can be VERY powerful if you catch your hair loss early enough. People Norwood 4+ are very unlikely to benefit a lot form it. NW3 and under are likely to do very well on it. And I'm not sure what you mean by hiding the problem of miniaturization? If minoxidil can grow thicker hair or even maintain hair it is literally helping you solve the problem of hair miniaturization

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

To prevent the underlying progression of Androgenetic Alopecia you have to incorporate an anti-androgen into your regimen.

 

[Pavi]

To prevent the underlying progression of Androgenetic Alopecia you have to incorporate an anti-androgen into your regimen.

You realize that minoxidil affects the androgen receptor in the scalp right?

- - - Updated - - -

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4039155/

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

It doesn't block DHT though.

 

[Baldingat188]

Wow I didn't even know what hypo whatever was haha

Guess I got another side to worry about now!

I keep going back and forth about whether taking finasteride is a good or bad idea. One day I read a post about how most people don't get sides and it helps their hair loss. The next day I'm reading about people who claim their life was ruined from this " poison"

I don't know , the hole thing is such a bad situation.

Sure , there are worse curses then to be bald but damn this sure feels like one of the worst things that can happen to someone's apperence , Espically at our age

 

[Pavi]

It doesn't block DHT though.

You must not understand how this all works.... DHT itself doesn't cause balding. It's the sensitivity of our hair follicle receptors to the hormone that causes a cascade of events that causes hair miniaturization. Basically, it's the defective hair receptor sensitivity to DHT and not just DHT. So if min can have anti androgen effects on the receptor that is a huge bonus

- - - Updated - - -

That's why it's called androGENETIC alopecia

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

Yeah I feel like I either way I'm f**ked. If I get on it I may get sides, but if I don't the side effect will be losing my hair and looking 20 years older. If I get on it and get Hyperandrogenism I swear I'll just shave my head and give up. Do you have a beard yet?

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, I'm more sensitive to DHT, therefor the inhibition of DHT should help negate the effects of the DHT sensitivity. minoxidil does not inhibit DHT.

 

[Pavi]

Min does not effect DHT... It affects the RECEPTOR that DHT binds to. I don't know how much easier I could explain this to you. If DHT can't bind to the hair receptor it won't start that cascading series of events.

Also, you should get your DHT tested before you take it. I have heavy facial hair, easily build muscle, hair on my chest and back. My DHT test came back and I was shocked. I had 17ng/microliter and the reference range was 16-79 ng/microliter. I fear that if I take finasteride I will absolitely obliterate my DHT levels. You should know your numbers too.

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

Then why does all the hair fall out as if you had never taken minoxidil after you quit it?

 

[Pavi]

Then why does all the hair fall out as if you had never taken minoxidil after you quit it?

Man... I don't want to seem mean, but you can't reason your way through this? If you stop taking minoxidil..... It doesn't go into your scalp anymore and it stops affecting the androgen receptor. DHT then can bind to the receptor and cause the balding process again. Finasteride has to be taken indefinitely for similar reasons

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

No I meant the hair falls out to the until you are at the stage you would have been at if you had never taken the drug. When getting off finasteride the baldness starts progressing like the male pattern baldness just started.

 

[Pavi]

No I meant the hair falls out to the until you are at the stage you would have been at if you had never taken the drug. When getting off finasteride the baldness starts progressing like the male pattern baldness just started.

It's honestly irrelevant. Why would you stop taking the treatment if you want your hair? I just think you should really think twice before destroying your body's most potent male hormone at your age

 

[Baldingat188]

I kind of have a beard , it's been coming in better latley . However I am also only 5"6 so I'm not sure if I'm done developing either

I'm getting to the point where I want to say screw it and take it but I still have some anxiety about it .

I can deal with sides as long as they don't harm my health. I think I'd rather some of the sides then have no hair . I just can't suite the bald look , being 5"6 and all it just would look terrible on me

Yep, it's pretty depressing. I really hope finasteride will work for me

 

[diehunnen123]

It's honestly irrelevant. Why would you stop taking the treatment if you want your hair? I just think you should really think twice before destroying your body's most potent male hormone at your age

minoxidil has nothing, and i mean 0 to do with dht, its a growth stimulant, and thats it. stop making false statements with your "bro science" please.

 

[Baldingat188]

Also how bad is your hair loss ? Because optimally you could wait until it progresses and then jump on it quick

I understand if you feel like you can't wait for it though. I feel mine is getting thinner by the day and want to do something about it ASAP